1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to the field of particle removing from an outside surface and in particular to the field of methods and apparatus for removing particles from the outside surface of glass vials.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the pharmaceutical field it usually not necessary to sterilize the outside of containers within which drugs are stored or contained. The inside of the containers or vials is another matter. In general, the inside surfaces of many drug containing glass vials must be free of contamination so as not to adversely affect the drug there within. New technology has become available to ascertain the lack of contamination within the glass vials; however, an inherent problem in the modern day method of filling of glass vials has prevented the application of the new technology.
The new technology involves automatic inspection of glass vials before the drug is inserted in the vial and after the vials have been filled with the drug. The obvious intent being the speeding up of the vial filling process by automatically inspecting each vile simultaneously with the filling process and thereby improve quality control.
As noted above, one function of the automatic inspection of the vials before being filled with a drug is to ascertain that the insides of the vials are not contaminated with particles. The automatic inspection process attempts to carry out this aspect of the inspection process by sighting through the glass from which the vials are made. The sighting inside the glass vials is accomplished with high-resolution cameras that sight through the sidewalls of said glass vials and can detect particulate contamination inside of the glass vials. Unfortunately because of particulate contamination on the outside of the vials, many vials are rejected in that the camera technology involved cannot distinguish between the presence of inside or outside particles. The result being that the automatic inspection rejects many of the vials even though the insides may be free of particulate matter. This can further result in shutting down the inspection process. For the automatic inspection technology to be effective all particles be removed from the outside of the vials notwithstanding that outside or external contamination is otherwise generally acceptable.
In the prior art, various attempts have been made to remove the external particles. Brushing the outside surface has been tried as has air blasting. While these techniques work to some degree, they are ineffective because the particles travel in all directions and simply lodge onto other vials. Vacuuming of the particles has also been attempted, but this method has been shown not to be reliable and or sufficiently effective.
The present invention substantially eliminates the above described problem by providing simple and completely effective methods and apparatus for removing particulate matter from the outside of glass vials such that the inspection and filling of the vials can thereafter be accomplished.